It seems that Melania Trump was right to announce her support of her husband, Donald Trump, because he goes to extremes to prove to her that she is important to him and that she deserves wealth and the finer things in life.
This week, the New York Times revealed that Melania Trump received a hefty amount from her husband’s super PAC.
In 2021, the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again, Again, forked over a payment of $30,000 on December 2, and the following day, the sum of $125,000.
According to the Federal Election Commission filing made by the super PAC, the two payments were paid to Designer’s Management Agency.
Reporters, who gave the certified personal financial disclosure report from the former president a closer look, discovered that Designer’s Management Agency was a middleman.
The agency later transferred the amount of $155,000 to Melania Trump. However, a source, who spoke to The Times, revealed that Melania Trump did not receive the money for speaking engagements or speeches.
The person claimed the businesswoman was paid for “event planning and design consulting,” which included “floral arrangements, table settings, and dinnerware for a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.”
The Make America Great Again, Again super PAC is no longer active. It transferred $8.9 million to a new Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., before shutting down.
The FEC filing also shows Melania Trump received a $250,000 payment from Log Cabin Republicans, an advocacy group focused on LGBTQ conservatives. She was paid $250,000 by another group called Fix CA.
The media outlet noted that it is “rare for the spouse of a potential presidential candidate to be paid directly by a campaign or an outside group affiliated with the candidate.”
The former president’s super PAC decision to hide the true recipient’s identity has sparked major backlash from both Republicans and Democrats.
Members of the two parties agreed that Trump’s finances needed to be investigated on a deeper level. The revelation also gave at least some of Trump’s political opponents an opportunity to attack him.
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who was a close friend of Trump and is now a tough critic, said the super PAC’s actions were shameless.
Christie, who is running for president in the 2024 presidential election against Trump, said: “A billionaire using donor money to pay personal legal fees, and now paying his wife more than 2x what the average American makes just to pick some tableware. There’s grifting and then there’s Trump grifting. Undisputed champs.”
Conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter also took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the report that Melania Trump received an impressive sum from her husband’s super PAC.
Taking a mocking tone, Coulter wrote: “Not a grift at all.”
The Melania Trump revelation is among a long list of incidents that have raised eyebrows or led to full-blown investigations into Donald Trump’s mishandling of campaign donors’ money.
Donald Trump has been scrutinized for the eight sums (between $6,000 to $18,000) that his Save America PAC paid hairstylist Hervé Pierre Braillard.
Braillard received the money for “strategy consulting” for Melania Trump. Trump has also been fighting the claims that the hush money payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels was a “simple private transaction and wasn’t a campaign contribution.”
Some observers say that the scandals seem to help Trump with GOP primary voters.
